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By ROB HERBST
The Daily News
Rherbst@bgdailynews.com/783-3238
OXFORD, Miss. – A stunning rally in a 10-9 victory tonight has Western Kentucky one win away from reaching the NCAA Super Regionals.
WKU shocked top-seed and regional host Ole Miss with a six-run eighth inning to tie the game, then capped the comeback with Jake Wells’ ninth-inning home run in the Oxford, Miss., regional of the NCAA Tournament.
The Hilltoppers will again face Ole Miss at 7 p.m. Monday, with the winner advancing to the Super Regionals.
WKU was only six outs away from having their season end when their comeback began. Three runs scored on singles from Jeremy Coleman and Matt Rice. Wade Gaynor then tied the contest at 9-9 on a three-run homer to left-center field that silenced the crowd of 8,377 at Oxford-University Stadium.
Chad Adcock pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory and Garrie Krueger threw a perfect ninth for the save.

Far be it for me to jinx anyone, but this game looks over. The Hilltoppers have continued to maintain a lead with blistering shooting. WKU is 12-of-17 from 3-point range and hitting just under 60 percent overall. A big change from previous games.

Same story from Fogelman Arena. WKU continues to main around a 10-point lead, withstanding any Tulane comeback attempt thus far. But there’s still almost eight minutes remaining and Tulane is still jacking up 3’s, so a comeback is possible.

The Tops maintain a seemingly comfortable double-digit halftime lead. WKU shot better than 61 percent from the field in the first half with Orlando Mendez-Valdez leading the way with 10 points. Steffphon Pettigrew and Sergio Kerusch each have nine.

Tulane likely will try and get back into the game with 3-pointers. It hasn’t worked so far. Tulane is 4-of-17 from 3-point range.

WKU’s defense has started to lock down on the Green Wave. A 9-1 WKU run has given the Hilltoppers the double-digit lead and Jeremy Evans is going to the line for two shots after the media timeout. Hopefully he’s not distracted by the laptop.

Tulane is shooting under 30 percent from the field and is going on five minutes without a field goal.

Yikes, a Hilltopper team that’s been shooting only 40 percent from the field on the season is shooting 75 percent agains Tulane thus far. Especially nice for WKU is the start by Orlando Mendez-Valdez. He had been shooting only 32 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3-point range. But he’s come out and hit both of his 3-point attempts thus far.

One downer for WKU? Sergio Kerusch has two fouls and is likely done for the half.